


In Your Eyes

by gaeriel



Category: Batman: The Animated Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-14 02:37:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7149311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaeriel/pseuds/gaeriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barbara's been seeing this strange blonde woman in the mirror...</p><p>Buffy: the Vampire Slayer/Batman: the Animated Series crossover.</p><p>Posted to AO3 for archival purposes. Originally posted at FF.net and Twisting the Hellmouth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a tribute to the second season Buffy episode "I Only Have Eyes for You." 
> 
> This was originally written prior to the Buffy series finale so it's not accurate for those events.

Barbara Gordon splashed water on her face, rinsing off the soap she had lathered on there. She sighed as she blindly reached for a towel and wiped her face dry. She glanced up at the mirror and froze, staring at the blond girl that was on the other side. She blinked and the only thing she saw in the mirror was her own reflection. She shook her head as she went to the kitchen to brew her morning coffee. _Must have gotten hit in the head a lot harder than I thought last night._

She and Nightwing had grudgingly put aside their differences for one night and tracked down the Joker. They had trapped the clown in an abandoned warehouse in the old factory district. Before he had been captured, however, he had let loose with one of his tricks, throwing a ball at her that had exploded, releasing tough wires that had caught and ensnarled her. She had tripped backwards and had banged into a pillar, giving herself one hell of a bump on the side of her head.

She pushed the oddness of the blond in the mirror out of her mind as she grabbed her purse and headed out the door to work.

The Gotham Police Headquarters was busy and she maneuvered around the usual cops getting off the night shift, cops just starting the day shift, arrested muggers, and the weirdos that hung out at the station claiming to know where the latest escaped Arkhamite was hiding. Barbara sighed in relief as she slid behind her desk in a part of the building less hectic than the public area.

She absentmindedly booted up her computer as she rummaged for her compact and checked that make sure that her makeup was covering the minor cuts and bruises she had gotten through her night job. Instead of her own blue eyes reflected back in the tiny mirror, she saw hazel eyes looking back at her. The lips of the strange blond moved. _Help me..._

A kiss on the top of her head snapped her attention back to the real world and she looked up at her father. "Dad!" She smiled at him and stuck the compact back into her purse. "What brings you down to this neck of the woods?"

Commissioner Jim Gordon sat down on the edge of his daughter's desk. "What? An old man can't come visit a pretty redhead?"

Barbara blushed. "You're not old."

"Tell that to my bones." He stretched and yawned.

She looked at him with worry. "How much sleep did you get last night?"

"I'm used to it." He waved off her concerns. "A little lost sleep won't kill me. 'Side, the Joker was finally brought in last night so I consider it a worthwhile trade."

"Just be sure to take care of yourself, okay? I only get one father."

He chuckled and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "I'll try. Now I have to get going I have a meeting with the mayor later today about starting up a Major Crimes Unit like Metropolis to deal with the crazed lunatics."

"Good luck with that." She watched as he walked away before turning back to the computer. She absentmindedly pulled up the file she had been working on yesterday but her mind was thinking over the strange girl that she had seen not once, but twice today in the mirror.

* * *

One of the pleasures of being a wealthy and self-employed, Dick Grayson decided, was sleeping in until he decided it was time to get up. He stretched luxuriously in his bed, wincing a little when he felt a new bruise on his lower back make itself known. Ah, the wonderful life of a vigilante after dark. He slipped out of bed and padded to the bathroom. That taken care of, he went to the kitchen and made himself a bowl of cereal.

He sat at the table spooning the food into his mouth, still waking up. He then dropped the bowl and spoon into the sink before leaving the room once again. He never noticed the brown haired man that had been reflected in both the bathroom mirror and in the cereal spoon.

* * *

Barbara sat in Dr. Leslie Thompkins's office, fidgeting. "So, am I going crazy or what?"

Leslie sighed and looked at the other woman. "I honestly can't say. If you were anyone other than you, I would chalk it up to too much stress. But you've always been able to handle whatever's been thrown at you remarkable well. This might have a basis in something other than psychosis."

Barbara frowned. "Like what?"

Leslie leaned back in her chair. "Has Bruce ever told you about some of his dealings with the occult?"

"You mean magic?"

The older woman nodded. "Some of the things that Bruce has seen definitely fall under the 'more things in heaven and hell' category. You said this woman you keep seeing was reflected in things? And it was the same woman each time?"

Barbara nodded. 

"Then I would talk to Bruce about this and see if he has any advice. It sounds like something supernatural more than anything having to do with your mental health."

"And if his first inclination is to take me out of the suit and shove me into a straight jacket?" Barbara asked wryly.

Leslie smiled slightly. "If he does, you send him to me."

* * *

Barbara sat nervously in the chair in front of the Cray computer in the Batcave. She glanced at her watch before settling back in the chair. Bruce should be heading down to prepare for evening patrol any minute now. As if echoing her thoughts, the entrance at the top of the stairs opened and she heard footsteps coming down into the cave proper.

She looked up expectantly and was surprised to see Dick Grayson instead of Bruce. "What are you doing here?" she asked. She winced a bit at the accusatory tone in her voice.

Dick looked over at her and glared. "I have just as much right to be here as you."

Barbara blushed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out that way."

He walked down the last few steps and walked across the cave floor to her. "Just how did you mean it then?" 

She winced at the neutrality in his voice. "I just meant that you seem to avoid the Cave now. It's odd seeing you here."

"I don't think you have any basis for assuming anything I do." He leaned back against the edge of the Cray and looked down at her.

Barbara sighed and spun the chair away from him. "No, I suppose I don't. Not anymore."

The two of them stayed that way in silence until Bruce Wayne descended the stairs into the Cave. "Dick."

The two looked up at him. Bruce reached the cave floor. "Will you be joining us on patrol tonight?" he asked his former ward.

Dick shook his head. "I just came here to talk to you about something."

Bruce turned toward the Cray and opened the file on criminals at large. "So talk."

Dick glanced towards Barbara and hesitated. She rolled her eyes and got out of the chair. "I'll be suiting up if you need me," she said as she headed towards the costume vault.

She had just opened the door when Dick's words to Bruce stopped her. "I think I'm going crazy."

"I'm not exactly the one to talk to about sanity," Bruce responded.

"No, you're not." Dick sighed. "But as much as it pains me say this, I don't know who else to go to."

Barbara crept out of the costume vault and walked back to the other two. "You've been seeing things, haven't you? Or people?"

Dick looked at her in shock. "How?"

"Because I thought I was going crazy too."


	2. Chapter 2

"I've been seeing this woman in the mirror," Barbara explained. "About my age, blond hair. Only I should have been seeing me instead of her. It's happened almost every time I saw a mirror or something that showed a reflection."

Dick nodded. "The same's been happening with me, only it was a guy with brown hair. Really intense eyes."

Bruce sat in the chair in front of the Cray and leaned back. "How long has this been going on?"

"Just today," Barbara responded. "I first noticed in the bathroom this morning."

Dick nodded in agreement.

Bruce turned towards the computer. "Are you two fit for patrol tonight? If you are, I want you to go out with Robin. I'm going to stay here and make some inquiries."

Dick and Barbara looked at each other in shock. Batman never missed a night if he could help it! "Uh, sure." "I guess."

* * *

Robin stood on the edge of the rooftop. "So why isn't Batman out tonight?"

"He has some things to take care of." Nightwing leapt off the roof on top of the burglar trying to break into an electronics store.

Beside him, Batgirl smirked. "You don't mind flying tonight with us, do you?"

Robin shrugged. "Nah. It's just—odd."

A grappling hook shot up into the air and Nightwing swung back onto the roof. "Ready to roll?"

The other two grinned in response and pulled out their own grapnels.

Towards the middle of the patrol, Robin stopped on top of a warehouse and frowned. "Uh, guys? Where are we going? This is nowhere near the normal patrol route."

Batgirl frowned. "I—I don't know. I just headed this way without thinking."

Nightwing looked over the area where they were. "This look familiar to you, Babs?" he asked softly.

She turned around, studying the warehouses surrounding them. "This is where we caught the Joker last night." She suddenly leapt over the edge of the building and started running down the street.

"Batgirl!" Robin shouted. He sighed and started after her.

Nightwing stayed on top of the warehouse for another moment, trying to collect his thoughts. Something was drawing him in the direction Barbara had taken off in—towards the abandoned warehouse where they two of them had captured the clown.

He shook his head before following the other two into the night. He found them standing in front of the warehouse. "Do you feel it?" Batgirl asked when he finally reached them.

"Yeah. I do." Nightwing resisted the urge to walk into the building. "I think we need to talk to Batman."

* * *

Bruce sat in front of the Cray, his three 'children' surrounding him. He frowned at the screen. "There's some odd history to that warehouse. It had been abandoned for over a decade by a bankrupt shipping company. Five years ago, there was a woman found murdered there. She had been really beaten up. The cause of death was a knife stabbed into her gut. She was finally IDed as a Buffy Summers, resident of Sunnydale, California." He hit a key and a picture appeared on the screen of a smiling blond woman.

Barbara gasped. "That's her! She's the woman I keep seeing in the mirror."

"They never solved the case. There was no suspect. However, three years ago, two other people were found there dead. One male, one female. It appeared as if they had killed each other. They were IDed as Mary Douglas and Peter Renardo. Then a little over a year later, same thing. Two people—one male, one female—found dead. These two were never identified. They seemed to have been homeless." Bruce swiveled around the face Dick and Barbara. "It looks like you're being haunted by the ghost of Buffy Summers and this other man, who I suspect was the one who killed her. What I don't understand is why there was no body for him."

Barbara stepped forward and gestured towards the computer. "May I?"

Bruce got up and let her take over. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she hacked her way into the police database. "Next of kin is listed as a Dawn Marie Summers. She's currently living at 1630 Revello Drive in Sunnydale along with a Willow Rosenberg and a Xander Harris." She quickly typed a search on the new names. "Rosenberg and Harris went to school with Buffy Summers; seems they were best friends. And quite the troublemakers too, according to these reports from their principal. Wait a second." She frowned as she came to a security-locked file. "Why would the government have records on them?"

Barbara bent down over the keyboard and worked at hacking into the locked files. "Bingo," she said triumphantly after five minutes. "Let's see what we have here."

The contents of the government file left the four of them shocked.

* * *

Willow Rosenberg was making breakfast when the phone rang. She reached over and snagged the phone from the wall. "Hello?" she answered while still flipping pancakes.

"Hi. Is this the Summers residence?" a female voice asked.

Willow frowned. "Kinda. Are you looking for Dawn?"

"Actually, I'm looking for anyone who can give me some information about Buffy Summers."

Willow paused in her cooking, her brow furrowed. "Why do you want to know about Buffy? She's dead. She's been dead for five years."

There was a pause on the other end and Willow was just about to hang up when the voice responded quietly. "I think I'm being haunted by her ghost."

She almost dropped the phone. "What did you say?" Surely she had heard wrong.

"I think she's haunting me. I keep seeing this blond woman in mirrors. She matches with a picture of Buffy Summers I found."

"Oh." Willow felt the need to sit down and slid down the wall to the floor.

"There's something else. A friend of mine, he's been seeing a person in the mirror too, only it's a dark haired man."

"Angel," Willow whispered. She felt tears sting her eyes and she wiped them away.

"I'm sorry. What was that?"

Willow cleared her throat and swept her red hair behind her ears. "Angel," she repeated. "His name is—was Angel. He was Buffy's true love, and worst enemy. It's complicated."

The smell of burning pancake brought Willow back to the present. She yelped and leapt up. "Goddess!" She swore under her breath as she tried to juggle the phone, the spatula, and the frying pan. She hurriedly tucked the phone between her ear and shoulder and scraped the ruined pancake into the garbage. Tossing the pan and spatula into the sink, she turned the stove off. "Sorry about that," she apologized to the mystery woman on the other end of the line. She paused as she thought of something. "Where are you? Actually, *who* are you?"

"I'm in Gotham City. As for who I am—that's a bit complicated as well."

"Why is it complicated? I don't understand."

"I have secrets too, just like you and Buffy had. Only my secrets aren't just mine to tell." There was a pause and Willow heard some muffled conversation in the background. "Just how much do you know about Gotham?" the voice asked.

"Not much." Willow was weirded out by the implication that the stranger on the other end of the phone line knew just who and what Buffy had been. "Why?"

"Gotham City is known for its costumed vigilantes. Batman and such. Well, I'm one of them."

"Ah." Suddenly, a number of things made sense. "And as a costumed vigilante, you would have access to top secret government files about Sunnydale and Buffy, right?"

"Well not so much have access to as hacked into, but yes," the voice returned wryly.

Willow had to chuckle at that. "So there's really not much about me, Buffy, or the rest of us that you don't know."

"I just know what's in the file about the Initiative."

"Then you know enough." Willow sighed and sat down at the island in the middle of the kitchen. Propping her elbows on the counter, she told the speaker, "Why don't you start at the beginning?"


	3. Chapter 3

Willow looked around at the four people gathered in the living room of the house. She had just finished telling them of the strange phone call she had received that morning. "Well?" she asked, looking around the room. "What do you think?"

"It's like with the ghosts in high school again," Xander Harris said. "You remember, Willow. The ones who were possessing people?"

She nodded. "Grace and James, right?"

"Something like that. Only now it's Buffy and Angel." Xander looked at the other female in the room, a tall slender woman with light brown hair. "How are you holding up, Dawnie?" he asked softly.

Dawn Summers shrugged. "I don't know. I'm feeling kinda empty at the moment. I mean, she's been gone for five years. It's a bit of a shock."

Willow moved over and hugged the younger woman. "It's all right. We'll get through this. We always do."

The fourth person in the room had remained silent up to this point. He spoke up now. "So what are we going to do, Red?" Spike's piercing blue eyes looked at the witch.

Willow sighed. "I was planning on eventually going to Gotham to help them. But I wanted to do some research first."

Spike leaned forward and rested his chin on his fist. "Do you have any ideas about what you're going to do?"

She nodded. "A few. When those two ghosts were possessing people at our high school, they reenacted the immediate events of their deaths. That's what's been going on in Gotham with Buffy and Angel. The problem is figuring out a way to get the two to resolve everything without getting their host bodies killed in the process."

"Neither Buffy nor the Poof were ones for talking when they could be fighting," the vampire observed. "At least Angelus wasn't, anyway."

"I don't think they're going to want to sit down and have a heart to heart chat," Xander remarked. "Anyone who got in the middle of their fight would be killed."

Willow nodded. "The way I see it, as long as it's Angelus and Buffy, we have no chance."

"But if it's Angel instead..." Dawn looked at the witch with apprehension in her eyes. "But can you do that? I mean, he's dead. As in incorporeal. You can't give a ghost a soul. Can you?"

Willow sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. But I really don't see any other way to go."

"And you're just going to trust these people? There's no evidence that Batman even exists. This could be just some crank."

Willow glared at her friend. "And what would they gain if it was just a crank, Xander? I believe her, this Batgirl. She sounded scared."

"Or she could just be a really good actress." Xander scoffed. "It'd trust Vampboy over here before I trust some stranger over the phone."

"Hey!" Spike spoke up.

Dawn looked at her hands, folded in her lap. She shifted slightly on the couch. "We never did find out what happened to them," she said softly. "I mean, we know they both died. Buffy's body was there and Angel's killing spree across America stopped. But we never actually knew for sure. It's kinda like what happened with Acathla. We only knew Buffy stopped him because the world didn't end."

"What are you saying, niblet?" The vampire looked at Dawn intently.

She looked up at her three friends. "Maybe we should go and help. I mean, as a way to say goodbye to Buffy. If it really is her, I don't think she's really happy as a ghost. Grace and James sure weren't."

Willow sat back in thought. "So you want to help. Okay. That's two votes for going. Any others?"

"So we're doing this democratically now?" Xander shook his head. "I say no way. We don't know anything about these people. It could be a trap, Willow." He sighed and looked over at Dawn. "I know that there's a chance it really is Buffy, but my vote's no."

Spike stood up from his chair and walked to the window. He stared out into the darkness and sighed. "I don't know if I really should have a say," he admitted. "Buffy and I were not always on the best of terms. At the end, we fought because she wanted to go stop my bleeding sire. We didn't exactly part on good terms."

Dawn reached over and laid a hand on his arm. "You're as much family to me as Willow and Xander are," she told him. "And you should help decide."

The vampire looked over at Willow and the witch felt her heart skip a beat at the pain in his eyes. "You still love her," she whispered.

Spike closed his eyes and looked away. "You know what my answer is, Red. Whenever Buffy was thrown into the mix, I never did think right." He smiled ruefully at Xander. "Maybe I really should be throwing my lot in with you, but I can't. Not if it's Buffy."

The dark haired man nodded slowly. "I may not like it," he responded, "but I do understand."

* * *

Spike left the warmth and comfort of the house and hitched a hip over the porch railing. He leaned back against the post and lit a cigarette. He snapped the lighter closed and shoved it back into the pocket of his duster. He looked up at the moon but did not really see it. Instead, he was lost in his thoughts and memories. 

It had been a hard them for all of them. They had just defeated the First Evil and there had been casualties. Buffy had not even finished mourning for Anya and Faith when there had been word from L.A.

Angel had lost his soul again. That damned law firm, Wolfram and Hart, had finally found a spell to rip the soul from his body. In thanks, Angelus massacred everybody in the building where Wolfram and Hart had their offices. He had then tried to go after the others at Angel Investigations but one of Cordelia's visions had warned them and they ran and hid.

Eventually, they had managed to drive the vampire out of the city but that had only been the beginning. There were reports of entire Midwestern towns killed. It had been possible to track Angelus's progress across the country by following the body count.

When Buffy heard, she had grabbed her sword and started after him, intent on stopping him. Willow had still been too weak from fighting the First to have attempted a soul restoration. They knew of no other witches powerful enough to have even tried.

"You're insane!" Spike had yelled at the Slayer when she walked out the door.

She had turned to him. "What do you want me to do?"

"Anything but going off after the wanker yourself. Take someone with you."

"Who? You?" She scoffed at him. "I need to do this by myself. This is my fight."

Spike hid his pain at her instant rejection of his help. "You're going to get yourself killed," he shouted as she got into her car.

She had glared at him. "I'll manage," she said as she closed the door and started the engine. He had stood there helplessly as Buffy drove away. The next time he saw her, it had been in pictures the GCPD had sent so that they could identify the body.

Spike threw his cigarette onto the lawn and closed his eyes. "I miss you," he whispered into the night air. "But you always did choose him over me, didn't you? Right to the bleedin' end."


	4. Chapter 4

Willow looked out the window of her airplane to see Gotham City spread out before her. It was not as large as Los Angeles, but it was large enough for someone who had lived in Sunnydale all her life. The four Scoobies had gone through all the books that Giles had left them before heading back to England. They had finally found out that in order for Angel's soul to be returned, his ghost needed to be bound to a physical body. That meant that they had to have the possession take place.

She had a feeling that Batman was not going to like that at all.

When the plane landed, she stood up and gathered her carryon from the overhead compartment. She got to exit the plane first—one of the benefits of flying first class, thanks to the ticket bought for her by Batman. She had talked briefly with him over the phone as they arranged the trip and even that short conversation had given her the wiggins. She had gotten the impression that he would be incredibly scary up close and in person. Willow hoped that he would not be meeting her at the airport.

She gave a sigh of relief when she saw an old guy with a mustache holding up a sign with her name on it outside of Gotham Airport. She walked over to him and smiled nervously. "Hi," she said shyly. "I think you're waiting for me?"

He returned her smile with a slight one of his own. "If you are Miss Rosenberg, then indeed I am. If all your bags are in order, we may head out."

She relaxed as he put her two suitcases and duffel bag into the trunk of the—squeal—limo. He reminded her a lot of Giles, except with a mustache and even stuffier, if that were possible. Did all guys from England act like this?

In the limo, she sat looking out the window and was a bit surprised to notice that they were stopped in front of an apartment building. The man—she still did not know his name—got out of the car and opened the door for her. "Miss Barbara was kind enough to let you stay with her," he said. "I believe that you had spoken with her over the phone."

"Oh," she could only reply. She had not thought that any of the vigilantes would give up their identity to her.

He gathered her bags plus a small pastry box and nodded to her. "If you will follow me, Miss Rosenberg?"

Willow stood rooted to the sidewalk, wishing that one of the other Scoobies could have come with her. But Dawn had had classes at the college and Xander had work. As for Spike, there was no way he could have traveled on a plane except in a box and he had glared at her for even daring to suggest that.

"Miss Rosenberg?"

She shoved her fear aside and followed the man into the building. Hey, Willow thought, she can't be that bad, right? Okay, she scares criminals shitless but she sounded nice over the phone. Right?

Willow had developed a mental picture of some tall hulking Amazon and was a bit surprised at the petite redhead that answered the door. She watched as the woman kissed the man on the cheek and greeted him as "Alfred."

She spotted Willow standing in the hallway and smiled. "Hey there. You must be Willow. Come on in." She closed the door after the witch had entered and held out a hand. "I'm Barbara."

Willow numbly took the hand, still staring. "You're Batgirl?" she asked in shock. "But—You're so tiny!"

Barbara grinned at that. "That just makes it that much more humiliating for the bad guys when I kick their butts," she whispered with a wink. "Besides," she said, "from what I've read in the Initiative reports, Buffy wasn't much bigger than me."

Alfred cleared his throat. "I am sorry, ladies, but I have to be off. If there is nothing more that you require, Miss Barbara?"

Barbara smiled fondly at the man. "Nope. We should be fine here. Thanks for everything."

He nodded at her and presented the pastry box. "Then I shall leave you this and be on my way."

Barbara took the box and said goodbye. She grinned at Willow after he had left. "If I know Alfred, he just gave us something wonderful for dessert tonight." She set the box down on the coffee table. "Why don't I show you the guest bedroom and I'll bring you up to date on everything."

Willow nodded. "Just one question though. Why show me who you are? I mean, that whole secret identity thing is pretty big to just tell some random person off the street."

Barbara grabbed one of the suitcases and headed down a hallway. Willow took the remaining suitcase and her bag and followed. "To be honest," Barbara replied, "Batman was all for putting you up in a hotel and just letting you remain in the dark about who we were. I pointed out to him that it was a pretty stupid idea, considering that there would be a lot of conferring going on between us and you. It would be pretty inconvenient to only be able to show up at nighttime, which is when the costumes come out.

"Besides, you know how to keep a secret. You kept Buffy's for years." Her eyes turned serious. "You also know how important secret identities are, having had to deal with hiding being a witch from the world."

Willow sat down the bed and looked at the other woman. "I suppose I understand. But it still blows my mind a bit."

Barbara's grin returned. "Just don't expect to learn who Batman or Nightwing are under the masks. Those two border on obsessive compulsive when it comes to their secrets. Robin might let you know his, just because you already know who I am and he trusts my opinion. But again, don't count on it."

Willow nodded. "Got it."

Barbara leaned against the wall and fixed the witch with a piercing gaze. "So, what's the plan for fixing this mess? I want to be able to look into a mirror and see me again."

"I want to restore Angel's soul. The reason this all happened in the first place was because he had lost it."

Barbara was nodding. "Makes sense, I suppose. I'm not too up on the magical side of things but I am willing to learn."

"The only problem is that in order to restore Angel's soul, he has to have a physical body."

"Which means Nightwing's going to have to let himself be possessed." Barbara frowned. "He won't like it."

"You're going to have to let Buffy take over you too," Willow pointed out. "The way it works for cases like this is for both parties to be able to inhabit a body or neither one does."

"But why didn't they take over us that first night?"

Willow shrugged. "I can't answer that. It might have been they weren't sure you two were compatible or they had to make their presence known first. The last time we had to deal with something like this, the ghosts were doing physical things so that people knew the school was haunted."

"What kind of things?"

"Moving things, hands coming out of lockers. The usual for ghost hauntings."

"Uh... Right." Barbara looked a bit skeptical but moved on. "But will it work? Restoring the soul I mean."

"I've done it before. Angel has a habit of losing his soul. I had to do it once junior year of high school and another time when evil Cordelia had taken his soul and captured it in a jar."

There was that look again! Willow watched the other woman nervously, looking for signs of—of what? Mental breakdown? Hysteria? The woman faced down costumed lunatics on a nightly basis. Surely she could handle magic.

"Uh, are you okay?" she asked Barbara. "You're looking a little pale."

Barbara shook herself. "Yeah, I'm fine," she responded. A little too quickly for Willow's liking, though. "I, uh, just need to get something to drink. And to get dinner started." She practically ran out of the room, leaving Willow behind.

"Oh yeah," the witch said to herself. "This is going to be fun." She sighed and followed Barbara to the kitchen. She found her chopping vegetables.

"I hope you like vegetable stir fry," Barbara said brightly when Willow entered the kitchen. "I wasn't sure if you had any weird food habits so I thought I'd stick to something that was meatless in case you were vegetarian or something."

"No, no vegetarianism. Though I don't eat pork. Raised Jewish and all."

"Ah, okay."

Willow stood uncomfortably in the middle of the kitchen. "Um, do you need any help?"

Barbara shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

"You want to talk about it?"

Barbara looked at Willow. "Talk about what?"

"The magic. It's seriously wigging you out, isn't it?"

Barbara sighed and put down the vegetable knife. "I've never had to deal with it before," she admitted. "Batman has, and so has Robin, but I never had to. I'm finding it a little hard to deal with." She gave a little laugh. "Funny, isn't it? I know Superman and a guy who rejuvenates himself by taking dips in Lazarus pits and I can't handle a little magic."

Willow took Barbara by the arm and sat her down at the kitchen table. "I understand. There's some scientific basis for flying aliens, and well, that guy that puts himself into those pits? Kinda creepy, but it's something you're used to. There is no scientific reasoning for magic. It just is." Willow studied the other woman. "Would it help if I did something? Show you so that you can see it's real?"

Barbara gave a shaky smile. "Maybe?"

Willow concentrated and created a ball of fire on the palm of her hand. Barbara stared at it with wide eyes. "See? Nothing to run screaming away from," Willow said cheerfully. She tossed the ball up in the air and caught it with her other hand. "It's kinda fun, actually, some of the stuff I can do." She held the ball out to Barbara. "Here, you wanna hold it?"

Barbara jumped backwards in her chair and stared at the ball of fire. "W-won't it burn me?"

Willow shook her head. "Not unless I want it to."

A bit apprehensively, Barbara reached out and touched the ball. She immediately jerked her hand back in reflex. "It doesn't feel hot," she said in awe. She then picked it up from Willow's hand and cradled it in her own.

Willow smiled at the look on Barbara's face. Looks like we got her over her magic fear, she thought smugly. That was a lot easier than I thought it would be!


	5. Chapter 5

"So is the blindfold really necessary?" Willow fidgeted in the seat of the car and resisted the urge to adjust the piece of cloth over her eyes.

"Batman's a little paranoid. It's standard procedure for anyone visiting the cave who is not in the family."

Willow was a little apprehensive about meeting the rest of "the family." Both Alfred and Barbara had been nice and welcoming but she somehow did not think Batman or Nightwing would be. She snorted to herself as she had a mental picture of Batman and the rest of the vigilantes controlling the city as a mafia family would have. But like the mafia, they were obsessively protective of their secrets. As soon as Barbara had reached the outskirts of the city, she had Willow put on a blindfold so that the location of where they were going was secret.

The witch sat back in her seat and tried to relax. "Um, so, what should I say when I meet them? I mean, 'Hiya, Batman' isn't exactly right, is it?"

Barbara laughed. "You'll be fine. He's a bit intimidating at first—all right, a lot intimidating, but you get used to him. Just try not to run away if he growls at you."

"Growling I can handle. I've had worse things growl at me than some guy in a bat costume."

"I bet you have."

Willow felt the car turn left and after a few moments, stop. "Are we there?"

"We're there. You can take the blindfold off."

Willow pulled the piece of cloth off of her and felt her mouth drop open. "Wow."

Barbara grinned as she got out of the car. "Welcome to the Batcave, my home away from home. Come on."

Willow followed Barbara to the imposing computer set on the other end of the cave. She felt her fingers itch at the sight of the giant Cray. As she walked closer however, another object caught her attention. "Is that a dinosaur?" she asked disbelievingly.

Barbara nodded. "Mechanical. It's one of Batman's trophies. He collects them for some reason." She grinned. "The boys won't be down for a bit. Want a tour?"

Willow listened in amazement as Barbara recounted each of the cases that was memorialized by each particular object. The witch stopped at one particular trophy and looked up. "That's one huge penny," she commented. "Must have been one interesting case."

"It was against Two-Face. He had captured Batman and had tied him to the penny and was going to flip the thing. It was a lose-lose situation—be smushed flat or get jarred to death on the landing."

"Why do they do that?" Willow asked. "I mean, all these gimmicky things? Wouldn't it make more sense to just kill him straight out instead of going through all this and giving Batman a chance to escape."

Barbara shrugged. "They're all a little insane. But I'm not complaining. If they had just pulled a gun instead, I wouldn't be here today."

Willow sighed. "I think I miss Sunnydale. There, the big bads are pretty straight forward in what they do. Kill, destroy world, raise some icky demon--none of this playing around with you." She frowned. "Well, except for Angelus, but he was just sick."

Barbara froze. "Angelus? Isn't he the one haunting Nightwing?" She turned to look at Willow with wide eyes.

The witch immediately regretted opening her mouth. "Uh, yeah. But I wouldn't worry about Nightwing suddenly going on a killing spree or anything. Nothing like that happened before when the ghosts took over those people."

"Except those people ended up dead." Barbara's voice was grim.

"Well, there is that. But I promise I won't let that happen this time." Willow smiled reassuringly but the other woman did not look convinced.

The sound of an engine approaching cut off any further conversation. The two woman approached the motorcycle that had just entered the cave. The rider was dressed in black Kevlar with a stylized 'V' across his chest. He pulled the black helmet off of his head, revealing a handsome face partially hidden by a mask across the eyes. "You're the witch?"

Willow bristled at his tone. "I'm sorry but I left my pointy hat and broomstick in my other cauldron."

"I don't care if you have a talking cat and dance naked under the moon." He got off of the motorcycle and stood up. "Can you help us or not?"

"I don't know but I'll do my best," Willow told him honestly. "I want to lay Buffy and Angel to rest just as much as you do."

"I don't care about them. I just want him gone." Nightwing pointed to a glass case. It took Willow a moment to realize he was talking about his reflection.

"Can you see him," she asked softly.

He laughed a bit bitterly. "Oh, I can see him all right. Tall guy, broad shoulders? Brown hair and brooding eyes."

"That's Angel," Willow said sadly. "Mr. Broody." She felt tears sting her eyes and she savagely wiped them away.

"Willow?" She felt a hand rest on her shoulder and looked over to see Barbara's concerned face. "You all right?"

The witch nodded. "Yeah. It's just a lot harder than I thought it would be, coming here. I mean, it's been five years. You'd think I'd have dealt with it already. I thought I had."

"It must have been a shock, hearing about Buffy after all this time."

Willow shrugged. "Just give me a sec and I'll be fine." She moved away from the other two, staring at the giant mechanical dinosaur. She flashed back to the two weeks after Buffy had left to hunt down Angel. The Slayer had tried to check in with them regularly but sometimes she had missed a day or two. When that happened, the nervousness and fear in the Summers' house was thick enough to taste. Eventually, however, the phone would ring and there would be a race to answer it.

"Hey, guys! Buffy's cheery voice called out. "Had to do a little clean up after Angel but I'm back on the road again. There was this nest of really icky green demons that..."

But one day, the phone rang after four days of no word from Buffy. Giles had answered and Willow had supported him as he grew pale and almost fell over. She grabbed the phone from him.

"Hello? Who's this? Buffy?"

"I'm calling from Gotham City Police Department. We're trying to identify a body. We think it may be Buffy Summers."

Willow had no memory of the rest of the call. She must have answered something because the phone was hung up when she came back to herself, sobbing on the floor with Giles.

* * *

Nightwing felt like a heel. This woman had flown all the way from California to help them and he had treated her like—he had treated her like he normally treated Babs. He sighed inwardly as he looked at the red-haired woman who he had once believed to be the love of his life. He had been ready to defy Bruce and the world in order to have her but in the end had done both in an attempt to get away from Barbara and her betrayal.

His life had been full of "ifs" and "might have beens." Somewhere along the way, those "might have beens" formed the path that would have led to his happiness rather than the embittered lonely existence he had now.

If only...

If only had had told Barbara the truth about being Robin? If only she had told him about being Batgirl? If only Bruce had told them both that he knew...

If only he had not run away.

The man behind the mask closed his eyes and remembered a happier time. He then pushed the memories away and turned towards the two women. "Come on," he said gruffly as he led the way to the Cray. "Let's get this over with."


	6. Chapter 6

Bruce Wayne hung up the phone and sat back in the leather chair behind his desk in the Manor. He had just finished a conversation with an old acquaintance of his, Jason Blood. According to Jason, things like this are fairly common in the supernatural world. Ghosts are nothing new and those that have died a tragic death or with unfinished business are more likely to try and influence the physical world, such as what the ghosts of Buffy Summers and Angelus are doing.

Jason had also told him that these events usually ended tragically. Bruce had no reason to not trust the other man. He considered Blood an expert on the occult and magic and trusted him.

Jason Blood was far older than he looked. He was well over 15 centuries old, having been one of the knights who had sworn allegiance to Arthur Pendragon, King of Britain. But he had betrayed his king by allowing Morgan le Fay entry into Camelot and Merlin had cursed him to share eternity with a demon known as Etrigan. And no matter what Bruce's feelings were about the demon, he considered Blood one of the few people he could trust, if not quite a friend.

Which made what he had just been told that more worrisome. Especially the information Blood had given about a Willow Rosenberg.

* * *

The three were gathered around the computer. Barbara watched in awe as Willow's fingers flew across the keyboard of the Cray. The witch was as good with computers and hacking as she was! Currently, Willow was reading up on the old police reports concerning the murders at the warehouse. The hum of the elevator coming down caught their attention.

"Don't worry," Barbara told the witch. "His bark is worse than his bite."

"But he's got a pretty mean bite," Nightwing commented.

Barbara glared at him. "Not helping."

"Sorry."

_He sure didn't sound sorry_ , Willow thought. From what she had gathered from Barbara, Nightwing ran away from emotions which sometimes led to things he said bypassing his brain. That she could forgive. It actually reminded Willow a lot of Xander before they had met Buffy, if a bit more curt and thoughtless than her bestest bud would have ever been.

The door to the elevator opened and the three turned expectantly towards it. Instead of Batman, however, a smaller and more brightly colored figure entered the cave. Barbara looked at the masked kid and frowned. "Aren't you supposed to be doing homework?"

He pouted. "Aw, Babs!"

"I'm not the one who has to pass history," she told him. Sighing, she turned towards the other redhead and gestured towards the newcomer. "Willow, meet Robin, the boy wonder."

Robin looked over and grinned. "Hi," he said with a wave. He looked at Willow curiously. "So you're a witch, huh? That's kinda cool. Can you turn people into frogs?"

Willow smiled. "I've never tried. But I can turn people into rats. That I have done. One of my friends from high school actually spent several years as a rat because of a spell she did."

"Whoa." Behind the mask, his eyes widened. "The most magic I've ever seen was when we were fighting demon boy."

Barbara frowned. "Demon boy? When was this?"

He hopped onto the edge of the Cray and swung his legs. "About a year ago. I think you were out of town with your dad at the time. Anyway, it was weird. There was this boy who worked some bad mojo and separated Etrigan from Jason Blood." He looked over at Willow. "They share a body," he told her. "Jason's like wicked old and the demon Etrigan is the only thing keeping him alive. Anyway, Batman and I spent the entire night chasing after witch boy and his pet demon so Jason wouldn't crumble to dust."

"That sounds like something that would happen on the Hellmouth," Willow observed. "So did everything turn out all right?"

"Yup. We got Jason and Etrigan reunited and the last time I saw him, he was at Br—uh, a wedding."

Barbara spoke up. "So why is this the first I've heard of this?"

Robin shrugged. "You know Batman."

"Is that so?"

The four jumped and turned guiltily towards the voice. "Uh, Batman!" Robin yelped.

The large imposing figure ignored his partner and stalked towards the witch seated at the Cray. As he got closer, Willow shrank back farther and farther into the chair. He stopped about a foot away from her and frowned. "Why didn't you tell us you practiced the dark arts?"

That question was unexpected. Willow forgot her fright and jumped to her own defense. "I don't anymore! I got over it. I recovered and went through magic rehab and everything."

"And that's supposed to make up for almost ending the world?" He cowered over her. "How do I know we can trust you?"

Willow leapt up from her seat. "Now you listen here, mister, I did some things that I'm not very proud of. But I'm trying to atone for my actions. I may not put on a pair of tights and a mask to fight crime, but I have probably saved the world more times than you ever have. And I don't know if that makes up for everything in the Powers that Be's little gradebook, but I'm one of the good guys."

Batman did not answer, only stared at her. "You get one chance with me," he said in his gravelly voice. "After that, I'll take you down if I have to."

"I'd like to see you try, Pointy Ears." She returned glare for glare.

A muffled snort drew his attention away from her to Nightwing. He glowered at his former partner before stalking off deeper into the Cave. Nightwing than smirked at her. "You know," he said, "I think I'm starting to like you. Anyone that can stand up to Batman is okay in my book."

Willow smiled shakily back at him. After tall, dark, and gloomy had stalked off, the adrenaline had rushed out of her body and her knees felt decidedly wobbly. She looked towards Barbara for reassurance but was taken aback by the look of apprehension on the other woman's face.

"Barbara?" she asked hesitantly.

"You tried to end the world." It was not a question.

Willow looked down at her feet and nodded numbly. Inwardly, she cursed her younger self for her grief-stricken actions. Even years down the road, she was having to pay for them. "It was after my lover was killed. She was shot and died in my arms. I kinda lost it." She looked at the three remaining vigilantes. "It doesn't make what I died any better, but I wasn't thinking straight at the time. I hunted down and killed the guy who killed her but that wasn't enough for it. I was so drunk on the power and I could feel all the grief and pain in the world. I wanted it all to end."

"What happened?" Robin asked softly. "What made you change your mind?"

She smiled a little sadly. "Xander. My bestest bud since kindergarten. He stopped me. I was so close though—if he had only been a few minutes slower..." She sighed. "But he wasn't. He pulled me back from the edge and took care of me." She laughed a bit. "Funny, you know? He's the one in the group who wasn't 'special' or had powers. He was just a plain ordinary guy and he saved the world." She looked up again. "Kinda like you, you know? You guys don't have any super powers or anything but you still go out there and fight the good fight."

Nightwing walked over and clasped her shoulder with new respect in his eyes. "It's hard to get so close to the edge and then pull back," he said softly. "Something like that changes you and makes you stronger. I won't doubt you again."

Willow blushed and looked away. She glanced over at Barbara to see her reaction and her heart sank to see that her expression had not changed.

Robin noticed Willow's face crumple. He elbowed Barbara and glared at her. She shook her head and looked at him disapprovingly. "If you will excuse me, I'm going to change for patrol."

Nightwing watched her walk off and turned back to Willow. "Don't mind her," he told the witch. "Both Barbara and Batman have a habit of seeing things in either black and white. She's never really had to deal with someone who had done something really horrible but then rehabilitated. What we deal with is the less appealing end of things and it's sometimes hard to remember that not all the criminals we put in are bad."

"But how can you two deal with it then?" Willow asked.

"I grew up in the lap of Gotham's underworld," Robin said. "My dad worked for Two-Face and I learned how to pick locks and pockets with my ABC's. I know just how it is on the streets. You just try to survive and you do what you can."

Nightwing's gaze returned to the direction that Barbara had gone. "Before, I was a lot like her. But after I had my falling out with both her and Batman, I traveled the world. I saw a lot of things that I had not seen in Gotham. I learned a lot about people." He looked at Willow. "Give Barbara some time and she'll come around."


	7. Chapter 7

Barbara shoved her feet into her yellow boots. As she adjusted the cowl over her bright red hair, she tried to wrap her mind around the new information she had just learned about Willow. The other redhead had seemed so sweet and innocent...

But then, so did Baby Doll at first, her cynical mind supplied. Who would have though that the woman trapped in a child's body would turn out to be a killer?

Barbara turned to look in the full-length mirror to make sure she was suited up correctly. She froze when Buffy Summers looked back at her. The Slayer cocked her head to the side and seemed to study her. Barbara felt herself being measured and found herself wanting. She scowled at the blond and slapped the mirror. "Leave me alone!" she cried out.

Buffy looked at her sadly before fading away, leaving only Batgirl's reflection behind. Barbara hugged herself and shuddered. She wished she had never chased Joker into that damn warehouse. She wished she could turn back the calendar to before she knew about magic and demons and all things that went bump in the night. Normal criminals were scary enough in Gotham. Why add vampires to the mix?

The notion that any one person had the power to destroy the world with only a thought scared her more than she wanted to admit. She was not supposed to be frightened. She was Batgirl! Fearless crime fighting partner to Batman and Robin. She faced cold-hearted killers on a nightly basis.

But yet...

Neither Nightwing nor Robin had seemed to have a problem with the witch. If anything, they seemed to sympathize. Perhaps it was because both of them had been initiated into the world of vigilantism by violence. Dick's parents had been killed in front of him, falling from the high flying trapeze. Robin, or Tim Drake, had lost his father because Two-Face had killed him for his betrayal.

She had become Batgirl in order to save her father's life. An admirable ambition, to be sure, but at the same time, she had never had to go through fire and survive like the other members of the Family. All of them had been touched by darkness but had managed to pull back. She, however, had somehow managed to remain mostly untouched when compared to the others. Was that the difference?

It did not matter. She would deal with Willow later. She resolutely adjusted her utility belt so that it hung more comfortably about her waist and headed for the door to the costume vault. Right now, she had to go on patrol. She pitied the first burglar, mugger, or rapist that she came across. She had a lot of aggression to release.

* * *

Willow sat in front of the Cray, going through more old police files and newspaper clippings. A throat cleared behind her. "All by yourself, Miss Rosenberg?"

She swiveled around and grinned at the elderly man. "Alfred, right?"

He nodded in the affirmative and placed a tray down next to her. On it was a large sandwich and a glass of milk. "I took the liberty of preparing you a snack. When the others are out on patrol, they tend to get back rather later. Or early, depending on how you look at it." He paused. "If you would like, I could drive you back to Miss Barbara's."

Willow took a bite of the sandwich and closed her eyes in contentment. If she were a cat, she would have purred. She filed away "sandwich making god" into the little folder in her brain that was collecting information on Alfred. She chewed and swallowed before turning back to the man. "No, it's fine. I have all these files on the warehouse murders to read and stuff. I want to make sure I know everything there is to know before I rush down there."

She set the sandwich back down onto the plate. "Besides, I don't think Barbara wants me in her apartment at the moment, what with me almost destroying the world and all."

If Alfred was shocked, he hid it well. Instead he smiled gently down at her. "If I may be so bold, I would not be so hard on Miss Gordon. For all her strengths, she can be rather headstrong and set in her ways. You just have to be patient with her. She can be rather open-minded if you just give her some time."

"That's what Nightwing said."

Sadness crept into Alfred's eyes. He sighed. "Yes, I do suppose if there is anyone that knows Barbara Gordon, it would be him." He turned towards the elevator. "If you require anything, feel free to call me on the phone. The first line leads directly above."

She smiled. "I will. Thank you."

He looked down at her kindly. "You are most welcome."

Willow watched as he made his way across the Cave and got into the elevator. Her lips swept upward slightly. She had forgotten how must she missed Rupert Giles until now. Many of Alfred's mannerisms reminded her of the kindly librarian-Watcher of her high school days. She felt the sudden urge to hear his voice. Looking at her watch, she sighed. It would be another few hours yet before she could call without waking him up. Giles deserved his sleep. He had spent far too many late nights that turned into mornings researching or fighting. Yes, if anyone deserved sleep, it was Giles.

* * *

"Want to talk about it?"

Batgirl adjusted the binoculars so that they zoomed onto the dark window of the apartment. "No."

Robin sighed and sat down on the edge of the roof. "Come on. They won't show for at least another half hour."

When there was no reply from the other vigilante, he frowned. "Look, we're going to have to work with her. If you have a problem with Willow, it's better to get over it now before we're neck deep in trouble."

"I don't have a problem with Willow."

"Really? Because you sure seem like you do."

She lowered the binoculars from her eyes and looked over at him. "She tried to end the world, Tim. And she almost succeeded."

"It was what, six years ago? People change. You saw the file on her. The feds thought she was one of the good guys."

"I don't think the people in charge of the Initiative are in any position to say who is good or not."

Robin stood up. "You're not making this easy, you know. She came all the way across the country to help us and you're giving her the cold shoulder. How do you think she feels? She's already guilty about what she did. You don't have to make it worse."

Barbara raised the binoculars to her face again. He sighed and started to walk away. "I'll talk to her after patrol, if she's still awake."

He smiled. "Thank you."

* * *

Ever since leaving Sunnydale and returning to his home country across the Atlantic Ocean, Rupert Giles has been fighting boredom. Those first few months had been rather pleasant, however, without having to research dangerous demons or avert apocalypses. After that, the monotony wore at him until it was with a bit of gladness that he accepted the surviving Watchers' offer—plea, really—to head the new Watcher's Council which was falling apart without any real experienced leadership.

One of his first acts was to sanction the activities of the Scooby Gang on the Hellmouth and Angel Investigations in Los Angeles. Another was to bring the Council into the twenty-first century by creating a computer database of all the information in the Council's extensive library. He had even had Willow flown over to help set up the system and scan the books. The redheaded witch had been ecstatic that he was finally embracing the wonder that was technology.

"I mean, it had only taken you twenty some years, but better late than never right, Giles?" she had told him with a grin.

Of course, he never told her that he still preferred to walk into the library and look for information the old fashioned way and used the new database only as a last resort.

But even with all his new duties, he still managed to find time in the early mornings to sit and enjoy a cup of tea before his assistant came in and started foisting files and phone calls at him. This particular morning, he sat back in his old comfortable leather recliner and stared out the window, watching the city of London come alive.

He was startled from his reverie by the shrill ringing of the telephone at his desk. He sighed and pondered for a moment of just ignoring it. When the phone showed no sign of quieting, he set his cup down on the table and walked across his office.

"This is Rupert Giles. We aren't open right now. So if you would be so kind as to call back later—"

"Giles, it's me."

The Watcher's face softened and his lips curled up with pleasure. "Willow! It's always nice to hear from you. What can I do for you?"

There was a slight pause before she answered. "Are you sitting down? Because if you aren't, you might want to be."


	8. Chapter 8

Giles hung up the telephone carefully, almost reverently. Willow's call had been a surprise and he was not sure how to react. Quentin Travers, the previous head of the Council, had been derisive towards the relationship between Giles and his Slayer. He had made it no secret that he felt that Giles had compromised himself by becoming a friend and a father figure towards Buffy. He had been even more disdainful of Giles's allowance and acceptance of the Slayer's friends who called themselves the Scooby Gang and aided her in fighting the forces of darkness.

But Giles had always cherished his 'children' and that had not changed—not by the grace of God nor Quentin Travers.

So when Willow had called to tell him that Buffy and Angel had been trapped as ghosts, doomed to possess and relive the last moments of their lives over and over...

He got up from his desk and slipped his suit jacket back on. He walked out of his office, surprising his secretary—sorry, personal assistant—who had just settled in at her desk. "Mr. Giles!" Virginia looked up from sorting the mail. "Is there something I can do for you, sir?"

Giles closed the door to his office. "I'm going to take today off. Reschedule my meetings."

Virginia looked up at her boss in shock. "Sir?"

He smiled gently at her. "I have some personal matters to attend to today."

Giles left the building that housed the Watcher's Council and started walking in no direction in particular. He had always thought best while walking which had led to his pacing habit during research sessions. He eventually found himself in front of St. Paul's Cathedral. The Watcher stood at the bottom of the steps looking up at the tall building as tourists and the devout streamed past him.

During World War Two, St. Paul's had been the symbol and rallying cry for those trapped in London because of Hitler's bombings. Fire teams worked tirelessly to ensure that the beautiful building would still be standing after the end of each Blitz. The people of London would see the cathedral and know that things were still fine.

The English soldiers fighting overseas would ask their comrades to light a candle for them at St. Paul's if they happened to fall in battle.

Giles' throat tightened as he thought of a few fallen soldiers who he had never lit candles for. He had never been truly religious. When he was younger, he attended church only enough to appease his parents. Then he had fallen in with the likes of Ethan Rayne during his university years. Even after he had come back from the dark, he still had not seen much reason to worship a God who allowed such things as vampires and demons to exist and terrorize the world.

None of the Scoobies had been overly religious either. Funny in that they were all warriors for the Light and readily used crosses to repel vampires yet he had never seen any of them set foot in a church or synagogue for the sole purpose of worship.

Yet, it was still tradition for the British, religious or not, to light a candle for their dead at St. Paul's.

Giles started up the stairs and paid the two pounds entrance fee. He walked past the tourists snapping pictures of the stained glass windows and statues. Where he wanted to go was at the back of the cathedral. He knelt down in front of the altar and picked up a taper. He lit the wooden stick with the red candle at the base of the candle rack and gently picked up a white candle from the basket. He set it into a holder and lit the wick.

"For Buffy," he whispered. He lit other candles, one for each of his fallen. "Anya, Faith, Angel," he murmured. "Tara, Kendra."

Giles then picked up two more candles and stared at them in his hand. His hand shook as he placed them next to the others and he felt tears sting his eyes. For all that the other candles were for those he considered his children, these two were for the women he had loved and lost. "Jenny," he said softly as the wick of the first candle lit. "Joyce," he said for the second.

He then shook the taper out and set it down. He sat back and regarded the eight candles lined up in a row. "May you all find peace." He slowly got up and dropped a few pound coins into the collection plate by the candle altar. "I miss you all," he told the candles.

When Giles left the cathedral and stepped back out into the sunlight, he felt lighter and freer. He realized with a start that he was hungry. Looking at his watch, he saw it was well past noon. He went into a nearby deli and bought a sandwich and a drink. He planned to eat outside today with only his memories of happier times of his 'family' in Sunnydale for company.

* * *

As soon as the top of the Batmobile slid back, Batgirl jumped out of the car and started walking towards the computer. She had to smile at the sight that greeted her. Willow was curled up in the chair, sound asleep. On the screen were police files from the GCPD database. Barbara pushed the button that turned the screen off and gently shook the witch awake.

"Wha?" Willow blinked the sleep from her eyes and looked up at the vigilante. "What time is it?"

"Almost morning. Let me get changed back into street clothes and I'll drive us back home."

The witch stretched and yawned. "Sounds good to me."

Barbara quickly changed and threw her costume into the hamper in the costume vault. When she reemerged, Willow was waiting for her by the car. Robin was standing with her, talking animatedly about the patrol, punctuating his narrative with visuals by punching and kicking. Willow was smiling broadly.

Barbara had to smile as well at the sight. Tim Drake acted so grown up at times, it was hard to remember that he was still only a kid. She walked over and gently shoved Robin towards the stairs. "Time for bed, pipsqueak," she teased.

He pouted at her. "Aw, _Babs_!" He scuffed the floor with his boot and walked sullenly away. Barbara walked to the driver's side and heard Willow stifle a giggle. She grinned as she imagined Robin sticking his tongue out at her.

She started the car and Willow got in. The witch put on the blindfold without having to be asked by Barbara. That gained her several points in Barbara's book and she felt guilty about her earlier treatment of Willow. Her talk with Robin had made her rethink her kneejerk reaction when she found out Willow's past dabbling in the dark arts.

After driving for about five minutes, long enough for Wayne Manor to be long behind them, Barbara spoke. "You can take off the blindfold now."

Willow unwrapped the scarf from her eyes and set it in her lap. An uneasy silence descended in the car.

"I'm sorry."

Willow looked up in shock. "What?"

Barbara gripped the steering wheel. "I'm sorry," she said again. "I—I acted like a jerk to you and I'm sorry."

"Oh." Willow nibbled on her lower lip and played with the scarf. "You had every right to be angry, you know. I still get a little angry with myself sometimes when I think of what I did."

"I had no right to judge you," Barbara said softly. "You came here to help us, not to treated like I treated you. I'm not perfect and I shouldn't have expected you to be."

"Thanks, I think." Willow smiled slightly into the night.

"Hey, did I tell you that time I teamed up with Catwoman?" Barbara asked.

"Who's Catwoman?"

"She's a thief. One of the best. Anyway, there was a break in at the museum and a cat statue was taken. It was still pretty early in my career and I assumed it was Catwoman. But it wasn't. Turns out it was this slimy businessman Roland Dagget and she and I ran all over town trying to get him." Barbara smiled as she recounted the tale.

When she was finished, Willow started telling about the love spell Xander had tried to do in high school that had backfired on him. The two were laughing at the end of that one. They continued trading stories until they reached Barbara's apartment building.

Willow went to bed completely relaxed, which was a good thing, because she would have to do the soul restoration spell tomorrow night.


	9. Chapter 9

Robin had wanted to come. He had prepared several arguments to convince Batman to let him come with the rest of them. One look from the Bat, however, had been enough for Robin to shut up and go on patrol--alone. Willow had smiled apologetically at him. He reminded her a lot of how Dawn used to be, begging to be let in on the Slaying action. It seemed that all teenagers, whether they be Key or masked vigilante, were in a hurry to grow up.

The three vigilantes and the witch stood in front of the warehouse. "Is this it?" Willow asked.

Nightwing nodded. "Yeah, this is it."

"All right then." Willow gripped her bag of supplies tightly and put on her Resolve Face. "We can do this," she muttered.

The four walked towards the door. Batgirl was about to enter when a hand on the arm stopped her. She looked up at Batman. "What is it?"

"If what Willow says is true, as soon as you and Nightwing walk in there, you'll be possessed by the spirits of the Slayer and Angelus. I think you should let us go in there first and have a chance to set up."

She nodded and allowed the other two to enter in first. She then looked over at Nightwing. "Nervous?"

He laughed shortly. "Oh no. I get possessed by the ghosts of dead vampires every night. Why should I be scared?"

She gave a weak chuckle. "Right. Nothing to be worried about."

The two stood there awkwardly for a few more seconds before he opened the door. "That should be enough time." She followed him through. A bright green light enveloped the two of them and shot outward into the night and that was the last thing either of them remembered.

* * *

Buffy felt her walk back into the warehouse. He was with her – the one that Angelus had chosen. She let herself be funneled downward, into the body of the woman known as Barbara Gordon.

She stretched out, filling the body of her host, reacquainting herself with the sensation of being corporeal again. Buffy felt the strength in this body; not as much as she had once had, but it was enough. She opened her eyes and saw the body that Angelus now inhabited. She looked past the black mask that he wore and saw the evil glint in eyes she knew so well. "Fancy meeting you here," she drawled just before she punched him in the face.

He snarled and retaliated. The two traded and blocked blows in a blur. He drop kicked her to the ground only to have her somersault back up, meeting his chin with a boot. She flipped backwards easily, landing in a crouch before sweeping his legs out from under him.

Angelus grunted when he hit the floor. He got up slowly and encircled his opponent. "Oh, you're going to pay for that, little girl."

Buffy smirked at him and held up two fists. "Ready whenever you are."

The two lunged at each other.

* * *

Batman stared in amazement at the two. "I never saw her move like that before."

"That's not Batgirl right there. That's Buffy. I recognize the style." Willow hurriedly swept out a blanket and laid it carefully on the floor. The Orb was placed directly in the center and the candles were placed in a circle around her. She sat down crosslegged with the Orb and the two combatants in front of her. "Now hopefully I can do this before they end up killing each other."

* * *

Renee Montoya and Harvey Bullock were in the part of their patrol that took them near the warehouse district. Montoya swore loudly when she was blinded by a bright green light. "What was that?" she asked her partner.

"I don't know, but it came from over there." He pointed and she swung the steering wheel sharply to the right, taking them towards the docks.

* * *

Batman watched as his two protégés battled it out in the center of the warehouse. He glared at the red-haired witch seated on the floor next to him. "Can't you hurry up?"

Willow matched him look for look. "I'm hurrying. Now can you please stop with the nagging already? You don't want to distract me because I might accidentally turn them into rats or something."

He was about to snap back a reply but he bit it back. He instead turned his attention back to the fight, suppressing a wince as Batgirl – no, Buffy – landed a high kick that snapped Nightwing's head back.

_Angel_ , he had to remind himself. No matter how much they looked like Barbara and Dick, they were Buffy and Angel. A dead Slayer and a dead vampire, trying to kill each other while they were in the bodies of two people he cared about. He was not one that easily formed friendships or relationships. He may not show it to the world, but he fiercely protected those that he did make. He did not want to have to lose either Barbara or Dick tonight. He could not. If he did... It was something Bruce Wayne, underneath his mask, did not want to contemplate.

* * *

"Madre de Dios!" Montoya felt her grip on her gun slacken when she took in the sight before her. 

Beside her, Bullock whistled through his teeth. "Always knew they were crazy," he muttered to himself. "And why isn't Bats doing something to break them up?"

"I don't know, but I'm putting a stop to this." She leveled her gun at the dueling pair. "Freeze! Police!"

The batarang snapped through the air and tore the firearm out of her hand. She muttered softly under her breath as she cradled the stinging hand to her chest.

"Stay out of this," Batman warned them.

"Or what, you pointy-eared freak?" Bullock demanded.

Whatever answer Batman might have given was lost as the redhead next to him started chanting and lights began swirling around her and the pair in the center of the room. Her head whipped back and her chanting got louder and faster. The glass orb under her hands began glowing, brighter and brighter until there was a bright flash and an unseen force pushed Montoya and her partner to the ground.

* * *

Willow scrambled up and stared at the shattered Orb of Thesula in front of her. "No!" she cried out.

Batman shook his head to try and clear the ringing and climbed back to his feet. "What happened?" he demanded. He looked at the center of the room to see the two still fighting. "Why didn't it work?"

"I don't know!" the witch wailed. "Maybe it's because Angel's in a human body with a soul, but he doesn't have a soul so I don't understand!"

"Calm down, Willow."

The two looked up at the unfamiliar voice. Batman's eyes narrowed when he saw the strange dark-haired woman standing in front of the two of them.

Willow stared at her in shock. "Miss Calendar?" she whispered. There before her was the computer teacher she and the rest of the Scooby Gang had befriended in high school. Jenny Calendar had been a gypsy who Angelus had killed in order to try and break Giles.

"You're trying to restore a soul to a ghost inhabiting a human body. The ordinary spell wouldn't work." Jenny held out a hand to her former student. "Here, let me help you."

Willow tremblingly took the hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. "But... How?"

Jenny smiled. "Don't question the Powers," she told the other witch. "Just know that I was sent to help you."

She closed her eyes and began chanting. It was the same spell that Willow had tried to perform, but different. Words and cadences were changed to better suit the situation. Lights appeared and swirled around the two witches as well as the two fighters, just like before. What was different, however, was that Nightwing stumbled back and held his head.

"It's not possible!" he gasped out. He fell to his knees and he felt tears form behind his mask. As Jenny stopped chanting, the lights began to slowly die away. He looked up at the masked redhead in front of him. "Buffy?"


	10. Chapter 10

The Slayer was having an odd sense of déjà vu, remembering another battle with Angelus ending with a scene much like this one. She walked forward the few steps and knelt down in front of him. "Angel?" she whispered.

She reached out and caressed his face and he leaned into it. He wrapped both arms around her and buried his face in her hair. "I missed you," he whispered.

"I missed you too."

* * *

"Oh my _gawd_ ," Bullock moaned as he covered his face. "Can't the two of them get a room?"

His partner shushed him. Renee was watching Batgirl and Nightwing kiss tenderly and was thinking. Harvey may not have noticed but she did. There was something more going on here than met the eye. And when it was over with, she was getting answers. One way or another.

* * *

The two helped each other up and leaned into one another. Buffy turned towards the two witches and smiled. "Thank you," she told them.

Willow released Jenny's hand and sprinted towards her friend. "Buffy!" she cried as she hugged the other woman. The witch felt tears roll down her cheeks. "I never got a chance to say goodbye," she whispered.

Buffy held her friend away from her and looked her in the face. Under the cowl, tears formed in her eyes. "I wished I could have. You don't know how much I wished I could have, Will. But now, I can."

Willow sobbed and hugged her friend again. The two friends held each other for a long moment before Buffy stepped back. "I don't have much time," she told the witch. "And I think there's someone else who wants to talk to you."

Angel stepped forward and swept the redheaded witch up in his arms. "Thank you, little one," he whispered in her ear. He then moved away from Willow and stood next to Buffy again. "You've given me something more precious than my soul this time, Willow. You've given me peace."

Buffy interlaced her fingers with his and looked up at his face. "You've given both of us peace." She smiled at Willow. "You take care of Dawnie, okay? Tell everyone back home that I said hi. I'll be watching you guys from time to time so I won't really be gone."

Willow smiled through her tears. "I'd like that, Buffy."

Jenny moved forward and touched Willow's shoulder. "It's time to say goodbye," she told the three.

Buffy nodded at her former teacher before returning her attention to her friend. "Bye, Willow. I'll miss you."

Angel nodded. "You take care of yourself."

Willow found her tears returning as she bid her friends a final farewell. Jenny looked over at her and smiled sadly. "Give Rupert my regards," she told the witch softly. "And tell him—tell him that I'm sorry."

Then she was gone.

* * *

With Jenny's disappearance, Batman shook himself free from the trance that had overcome him after the spell had worked. He approached the three slowly. Batgirl and Nightwing were standing staring at each other while Willow was gently sobbing.

"Batgirl? Nightwing?" he asked softly.

The two blinked and shook themselves. "We're here," Nightwing answered. "Just give us a minute to fully process everything."

Batgirl looked at Nightwing. "Where did we go wrong?" she asked him.

"I don't know," he replied. "But if you're willing, I want to give it another try."

She nodded and leaned against him tiredly. "I'd like that."

His arm reached out and encircled her waist. The two looked at Batman expectantly. "So what now?" Nightwing asked. Batman, for once, had no answer.

Willow dashed the tears from her eyes. "Thank you, you guys," she told the three crimefighters. She walked over to her magic supplies and began packing them back into the duffel bag as she tried to regain her composure.

Harvey Bullock's voice cut through the silence in the warehouse. "Would someone like to tell me what the hell just happened here?"

* * *

Bullock scowled as he walked through GCPD headquarters. "Do you really believe that bull that Pointy Ears tried to shove down our throat?"

Montoya grabbed a cup of coffee from the coffee pot. "Actually, yes," she told her partner. "There was more going on than what we saw on the surface."

He swiped a doughnut from a box on the table by the water cooler and shoved half of it in his mouth. "But magic?"

She grimaced but did not comment on either his eating habits or his table manners. "Why not?" She shrugged and moved towards her desk. "There's a flying man in Metropolis, a guy who can run faster than the speed of sound in Central City. Hell, there's even rumors of an entire underwater civilization in the ocean somewhere. So why not magic?"

He scowled. "It's just too much. Magic. Bah." He walked away eating the rest of his doughnut.

Montoya sat down and shook her head at her partner's retreating back. "Men."

* * *

Willow stood up as her flight number was called. "Well, that's me," she told her companions. "So I guess this is goodbye?"

Barbara smiled and reached over to hug the other redhead. "It's a small world. You never know who you could run into."

Dick smirked and embraced the witch. "Thank you for everything," he told her.

"I should be the one thanking you. I finally got to say goodbye to the two of them. Well, three if you count Miss Calender." Sadness shone in her eyes, but also contentment. This trip had given her the closure she had not even realized she needed.

She waved to her new friends as she headed for the boarding gate. The two watched as she handed over her ticket. "So," Barbara asked, "I have the rest of the day off from work. Want to get some lunch or something?"

Dick looked over and grinned. "Maybe catch a movie?"

She smiled. "Sounds like a plan." The two linked arms and headed out of the airport into the sunshine.


End file.
